A consultant anaesthetist who has been investigated over dozens of hospital deaths was struck off the medical register yesterday for taking active measures to end the life of a patient against his family's wishes.

The General Medical Council ruled that Ann David, an intensive care specialist at Basildon hospital, Essex, did not explore all options before taking "active measures" to "prematurely" end the life of Robert Symons.

The 60-year-old milkman was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit with a serious infection on January 22 1999. At first Dr David placed him on a ventilator, but on February 16 she decided he had no chance of survival.

Although his wife, Edna, and son Gary were "strongly opposed", within hours Dr David had given Mr Symons a high-dose of sedatives and taken him off the ventilator. He died 20 minutes later.

Michael Whitehouse, chairman of the fitness to practise panel, ruled that Dr David's decision was "clinically unjustified" and that her actions had brought Mr Symon's life "to an end earlier than would have occurred naturally". He added that the dose of sedatives had been "very large" and that Dr David's fault in ending Mr Symond's life "whatever her motives, is very serious".

Finding the £90,000-a-year hospital anaesthetist guilty of serious professional misconduct, Professor Whitehouse ruled that she should be struck off the medical register. "Dr David's behaviour in causing the death of a patient is fundamentally incompatible with continuing to be a medical practitioner," he said.

His panel also raised concerns that the hospital and its intensive care unit did not have a clear policy on withholding and withdrawing treatment.

Dr David's conduct was called into question five years ago after an internal investigation by her employers, Basildon and Thurrock NHS hospitals trust, into the deaths of 45 terminally ill patients.

In 2000 detectives arrested Dr David and questioned her about the deaths but no charges were brought.

It was only after Mrs Symons lodged a compensation claim against the trust over the death of her husband, and her solicitors wrote to the GMC, that Dr David, who had been suspended on full pay for five years, resigned from the hospital and applied for her name to be voluntarily removed from the register.

Welcoming the GMC's decision, Mrs Symons said she hoped it would prompt Essex police to reopen its investigation.

"I feel very bitter about it and feel my husband was taken too soon," she said.

"On the day he died he was looking the best he had ever looked ... It looked like he could get up and walk out but the thing is he was not given the choice."

An Essex police spokeswoman said it would decide whether or not to reopen the inquiry after it had received a report from the GMC.